The objectives of this study were to evaluate the tick fauna in the Aso region and the repellent effects and acaricidal activity of three plant–derived essential oils against ticks. It was revealed that the most dominant species of tick in the region was Haemaphysalis longicornis, with large annual fluctuations in the number of juvenile stages. The essential oils also showed significant repellent effects against H. longicornis and were highly toxic to this species. These results suggest that spraying essential oils on cattle in spring and autumn, when juvenile stages emerge, may be useful in controlling this species by disrupting infestation.

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The genus Heterophrynus of the family Phrynidae, endemic to South America, presents a cryptic diversity previously reported in genetic population studies, especially in the group of species similar to H. batesii, which is distributed from the Brazilian Amazonia to the North of Colombia. Describing new species inside this group could be difficult due to the lack of diagnostic characters, however, the male genitalia presents a little studied group of characters that could be useful. We evaluate the variation in the male genital morphology of the group using SEM pictures, showing the differences in some structures between species from the Amazon and the Andean region, and for the first time, we present a time-calibrated phylogeny of the Colombian species based on COI. We describe a new species Heterophrynus nasa, based on the male and female genitalia morphology, which is also supported by analyses of genetic species delimitations. Variations on the Lobus Dorsalis, Laterialis, and the Processus Internus, show patterns in the Amazonian species that differ from the Andean and Caribbean species. According to the genetic analysis, the raising of the Andean Oriental Cordillera could have produced species differentiation dating from 27 to 7 mya, since the Oligocene to the Miocene.

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Molecular phylogenetic analyses, Bayesian inference and Maximum Likelihood, were conducted using datasets of five genes to assess the validity of the genera Lipocrea Thorell 1878 and Lariniaria Grasshoff 1970. While the genus Larinia Simon 1874 sensu lato was initially suspected to be polyphyletic, the results showed that the target species of this study, including the ones of Lipocrea and Lariniaria, formed a monophyletic group. Thus, both genera should be considered junior synonyms of Larinia as a separation from the latter is unnecessary. Nonetheless, the analysis reaffirmed concerns regarding the potential polyphyly of Larinia sensu lato and indicated the need for further investigation.

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Trechona garimpeira n. sp. is described here, based on specimens of both sexes, collected in the states of Bahia and Minas Gerais, located in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil, respectively. The new species represents the first record of the genus from the Northeast region of Brazil and the “Tabuleiro” Forest ecosystem in the Atlantic Forest.

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Geographic variation of a Japanese harvestman species, Gagrellula ferruginea (Loman 1902) was studied in Tottori Prefecture and adjacent areas in Honshu, Japan. Two geographical races, the Daisen race and the Kinki race, were distinguished by the coloration of the body and legs. The both forms intergrade one another at the boundary of their ranges making a hybrid zone of ca. 20 km wide. The diploid number of chromosomes was 12 in the seven western populations of 26 populations studied, while the number was 14 in the 18 eastern populations from the Hino River, irrespective of the variation in coloration. The number of noduli on the second femur varied from 1 to 5, though the mode was three except for a single population (Yabara predominated by 2). There was a slight increase of the mean noduli number toward east (Spearman rank correlation, rs = 0.15, P＜0.001). Legs became shorter with the increase of altitude in each of the areas around Mt. Daisen, Mt. Mikuniyama and Mt. Hyonosen, though the populations around Mt. Daisen always had shorter legs than those in the other areas. Response to altitude of body length differed between populations around Mt. Hyonosen and those around Mt. Mikuniyama and Mt. Daisen. Body became smaller with the increase of altitude in the populations around Mt. Daisen and Mt. Mikuniyama, but the trend was unclear in the populations around Mt. Hyonosen.

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A new species of the genus Rhene Thorell 1869, R. aeternaver sp. nov., is described here. The conspecifity of the male and female is confirmed by the DNA barcoding. The species is so far known from Hengchun Peninsula in Taiwan.

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This study reports the first documented case of predation of an early instar thelyphonid, Mastigoproctus sp., by the scorpion Centruroides elegans in a dry tropical forest in Mexico. The overlap in microhabitats between these two species suggests that their encounters are facilitated by the errant behavior of C. elegans. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the ecological dynamics involving thelyphonids and highlight the vulnerability of juvenile stages to predation, expanding the known predators of these arachnids.

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This study documents instances of spider predation on earthworms in Japan, an overlooked predator–prey interaction in temperate Asia. Based on a literature review, field observations, and social media outreach, we identified twelve cases involving eight spider families, primarily ground-dwelling and cursorial species. These findings expand the known geographic scope of earthworm predation by spiders to Asia, and underscore the need for further surveys in other temperate regions to better understand this understudied aspect of spider foraging ecology.

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Phylogenetic position of the subterranean Cybaeus eremospelyngus Matsushita, Ihara & Nakano 2025, known from Osawa-shonyudo Cave, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, is estimated using nuclear internal transcribed spacer 1, 28S rRNA, histone H3, and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I markers. The present phylogenies suggest that C. eremospelyngus forms a distinct lineage within the Japanese Cybaeus.

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